On June 29, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS) published data summarizing payments made by drug and medical
device companies to physicians and teaching hospitals during the
2017 Open Payments program year. Payments disclosed through the
Open Payments program are represented in three categories: (i)
research payments, which includes payments and
transfers of value made in connection with a formal research
agreement, (ii) physician ownership, which
includes information about ownership or investment interests
physicians or their immediate family members have in the reporting
entities, and (iii) general payments, which
includes payments or transfers of value that are not in connection
with a research agreement or protocol.
According to the report, in program year 2017, drug and medical
device companies reported $2.82 billion in general payments, $4.66
billion in research payments, and $927.16 million in physician
ownership information, for a total of $8.4 billion in payments made
to physicians and teaching hospitals. This number represents a
slight decrease from the $8.81 billion in payments reported in
program year 2016.
The full 2017 summary can be found on the CMS Open Payments website.
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